Have you fed Paprika for coat colour?

Tnavas

Tnavas

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As the title says - I plan to start feeding Paprika to improve the coat colour of my seriously orange filly. However having never fed it before am not sure how much I need to feed.

Anyone know how much I need to feed daily - Filly is 17hh and her mum is 16.22hh
 
I'd never heard of using this before, but looking on-line it seems parika IS good for keeping coat colour, especially on black coats.
Unfortunately no-one seems to agree on the amounts needed :confused:

Just to add, apparently the use of paprika and also celery seed is illegal according to some governing bodies including BD and some showing societies (Don't know why?) so just be aware if you plan to show.
 
Paprika does work, and as it is natural I'm not sure why it would be banned by some places.

In my understanding, and I stand to be corrected, it is built up into the system (beta carotene) that colours the the fur - well influences.

It is a natural food colourant and Paprika is packing it in!

Something similar is done to keep the red canaries red (as they are not naturally).

My only concern would be moderation; everything good is always had in moderation, so how much a horse needs to consume to colour the coat would probably be quite a bit, and regular without fail, as it's a system thing.

I will never forget reading an article years ago about a child somewhere that drank so much Sunny Delight that they turned orange...

Basically that is what Paprika will do, however that's a lot of commitment to keep feeding this and I would imagine not that cheap.

Coats fade with UV/sunlight it is normal. I have an 'orange' chestnut horse, and he's faded a little bit with the good weather. Still love him, but then we don't show or anything so it doesn't matter to me.

You can buy all kinds (I notice when in tackshops) of colour shampoos, I've heard of people using hair dyes etc... so I guess it's down to each of us what we do.

Paprika is natural and I see more positive benefits than negative side affects, but that is to humans. We have used it on poultry though at a rate of about 0.5% daily their body weight in winter to help in cold conditions with circulation.
 
CHH said:
as it is natural I'm not sure why it would be banned by some places.
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Apparently celery seed has mild tranquilizing effects and also acts as an anti-imaflammatory.

Whereas Paprika has the opposite effect and encourages 'hyped up' behaviour.
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I've tried it this year just a dessert spoon for my 16.2 - but not much difference. Just content myself with a bay friesian!

I got the paprika from makro (mild version!!) We are on 3rd pot since spring - may be I haven't fed enough?
 
monikirk said:
I've tried it this year just a dessert spoon for my 16.2 - but not much difference. Just content myself with a bay friesian!

I got the paprika from makro (mild version!!) We are on 3rd pot since spring - may be I haven't fed enough?
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How long have you been feeding it and did you start before the current coat came through? My plan is to affect the coat about to grow - we are in winter here so it will hopefully affect the summer coat.
 
I started when he was shedding winter coat. I think this is one of the main ingredients in 'Black as Knight" Some forums have said that the paprika could cause stomach ulcers so was reluctant to feed too much.
 
I feed seaweed as a suppliment for his coat. He is a chestnut and he has a lovely shine. you can tell the differance when he hasnt had it as his coat dulls up a bit. he is also 21 and hardly has a grey hair on his body.
 
if beta carotene in paprika influences coat colour then surely lots of carrots could have a similar effect? as they are very high in beta carotene- hmm maybe thats why my buckskin turned BRIGHT orange last year !! (she did have a tonne of carrots every day) also i used to eat a lot of carrots and i actually turned orange too so i can confirm this ;) now i have stopped the carrot eating as i was fed up of being orange !

This year my mare is more of a golden/bay colour buckskin but last year was bright orange!
 
Evelyn said:
As the title says - I plan to start feeding Paprika to improve the coat colour of my seriously orange filly. However having never fed it before am not sure how much I need to feed.

Anyone know how much I need to feed daily - Filly is 17hh and her mum is 16.22hh
Click to expand...

Have you considered using one of the shampoos to enhance coat colour instead of putting something into her feed? I used to use a dark coloured shampoo for my black horse to keep his black colour as he used to go a shade of brown colour in summer when his coat got bleached by the sun. I also used to use henna in his tail as his sire was a liver chestnut and Rommy had beautiful chestnut streaks in his tail which shone when they caught the sun.

The shampoos below called Henara can be found in the budget chemist shops and pound shops. Heres the ebay link to them.

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_nkw=...shampoo&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313
 
applecart14 said:
Have you considered using one of the shampoos to enhance coat colour instead of putting something into her feed? I used to use a dark coloured shampoo for my black horse to keep his black colour as he used to go a shade of brown colour in summer when his coat got bleached by the sun. I also used to use henna in his tail as his sire was a liver chestnut and Rommy had beautiful chestnut streaks in his tail which shone when they caught the sun.

The shampoos below called Henara can be found in the budget chemist shops and pound shops. Heres the ebay link to them.

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_nkw=...shampoo&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313
Click to expand...

Mine all have white stockings and make washing with any colour in quite a mission to keep it out of the socks. I've seen others use the shampoo but not noticed too much of a difference bar the 'natural highlights' are missing and the colour looks artificial. There was a black horse doing the show circuit a few years ago who was so definately died and his coat was to evenly black.

The Paprika is fine to feed - it is also good for the blood circulation and reduces blood pressure - I eat quite a bit of it to help reduce mine.
 
I fed my friesian paprika to keep her black coat for her grading, was very impressed with it as she usually bleaches a lot.

This is her normally in the summer:

30652_399419297465_642792465_4650934_3627480_n.jpg


And at her grading (September):

n642792465_1245982_4928.jpg


Both years she had pretty much the same routine, out 24/7 unrugged, except for the worst of the heat when she would have a fly sheet on which keeps her cool and fly-free :D

I havent given her paprika since though after I posted about her coat colour on another forum, and several members told me that there were medical problems associated with feeding horses paprika daily (as you have to in order to get any difference in the coat), long term. A black coat is not worth risking my horses health over so regardless of whether it is "fact" or not, the indication that theres been a link in a few horses is enough to make me not want to do it again!!
 
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